Strawberries
by LordSameth
Summary: He just stepped out to get Spike a treat, but what Raph stumbles upon is far more important than a strawberry, as he witnesses a gang of thugs in the process of luring April into an alleyway. A one-shot based in the 2012 universe!


_AN: This is just a one-shot story. I needed a writing break from Triangle, chapter 7 is all drama and although it is close to complete, the story is pretty dark and I wanted something a little less grim. I wonder if I should do a short story for all of the turtles?_

_This takes place in the 2012 universe, and stars Raph and April. Not shipping them though. Heck, what would you call that pairing anyways? Apraphil? I like it. There is no Apraphil in this fic._

_This is also my first time writing about April._

_Anyways, I hope you like it!_

* * *

**Strawberries**

* * *

The carton of bright red berries that April had brought on her visit did look delicious, Raph had to admit. The wild strawberries were tiny, and still on their stem, for they were so delicate they would surely burst if removed. Raph sat off to the side on the beanbag, Spike sitting faithfully on his shoulder as he read his comic, losing interest after his brothers began to crowd in around her, each wanting to try a bite of the treat. It wasn't too long though, before she had approached him, and offered him the carton to try one. Delicately taking a stem between his fingers, he slipped the two berries attached into his mouth. He was surprised; The berries were incredibly sweet, and though small, very flavorful.

" These are actually pretty good!" Raph put his comic down and sat up straighter, suddenly more interested in the small fruits. " Where did you find these?"

" There is a little market booth in the park, not far from where my Aunt lives. I thought I'd bring some over after I saw some pictures on the internet of turtles eating strawberries!" April seemed pleased at everyone's reaction to her present, and immediately returned to the other three to share out the rest.

Getting to his feet with a grunt, Raph joined the group. They had mostly eaten them all, but a single stem with one berry remained and he reached for it, hoping to give it to Spike as a treat. His fingers didn't make it in time, and Mikey's hand shot under his and swiped it, gulping down the whole thing, stem and all.

" Hey!" Raph pulled his hand back from the carton and instead used it to smack his brother, " Dude, how many have you had?" he growled.

" You snooze, you lose!" Mikey taunted, dodging another strike before sticking out his berry-stained tongue.

" Guys!" April quickly cut off the bickering, " I'll just bring some more next time okay?"

" Whatever you say." Raph mumbled, throwing himself back on the beanbag and grabbing his comic once more.

* * *

April didn't stay long, stating that she had a paper due and she wanted to work on it in the quiet of her bedroom. Despite Donnie's insistence that he help her, she managed to slip out with a quick goodbye to everyone.

With April gone for the night, everyone began doing their own thing, Leo began to gear up for his Space Heroes, which would be starting soon, Donnie departed to his workshop, and Mikey hit up one of their game machines. Dropping his comic on the floor, Raph heaved himself up and made his way into the kitchen, where he deposited Spike on the counter and put a large leaf in his dish, " Aw man, dude, you should've had a taste of those strawberries." Raph mumbled as Spike took a nibble from his leaf. " Seriously man, you would have loved it." He gently stroked his pet's neck skin. " If only I could go out and get you some..."

Raph's brow shot up. Why couldn't he? He lifted his head and looked through the kitchen door. He'd just have to slip out, and find that park. He could figure out how to get the strawberries when he got there. He'd be back before anyone knew he was gone. The more he thought about it, the more he liked that plan, and without further thought he began to make his way out.

* * *

Leaving the lair had been stupidly easy, with everyone distracted as they were, he was pretty much able to just walk out. The spring air was still warm from the departing daylight. Raph realized suddenly that he hadn't been out this early; Daylight still filled the sky, and the sun wouldn't be fully set for another half hour or so. Making note to be careful Raph began his ascent to the rooftops.

He made it to the rooftop of April's place before he realised that he didn't really know where he was going. Standing tall, he looked around, trying to find that park she had mentioned. There was a clear area not too far away, and after leaping to a taller building he was able to confirm that it was indeed a park. It took a few minutes of rooftop running to get there, and he reached the park as the sky was beginning to get dark, which suited him just fine. Realizing he'd have to ground it to get into the park, Raph prepared to jump down from the building, when a familiar figure caused him to pause. Emerging from the park's walkway was none other than April, carrying a paper bag.

Raph tilted his head as his human friend reached into the bag and produced a small red berry and plopping it into her mouth with glee. Raph sat crouched on the roof, watching. Of course she would go straight there to get more strawberries. The motivation for going to get berries left the turtle upon seeing that April had already done so for him, and he turned to leap across the alley to the next building to go home when a sound caused him to pause. His eyes began searching for the source of the sound. Again he heard it, a sound like kittens mewing.

Looking down, Raph realized that April had heard it too, and was following the kitten sounds into the alley, where a dumpster sat just below where he was. He crouched down, watching as she lifted the lid to the dumpster, looking for the kittens she had heard. As she searched, movement drew Raph's eye as a man wearing a black hoodie stepped out from an alley-facing doorway, in his hands was a baseball bat. How had Raph not noticed him? The thug raised the bat to strike April as she searched through the trash, oblivious to her attacker's existence. With no time to do anything else, Raph leapt from the building, "April!"

* * *

The sound of the bat striking April's face as she turned was echoed by the sound of her attacker's head striking pavement as Raph landed on him. There was a cry as a second member of the group, hidden behind the dumpster making cat sounds saw him, and he too went down in a heap as Raph threw his body into the wall across with more strength than needed to dispatch a lowly thug. Raph lifted his head to check for any more when his vision whited out briefly and he collapsed as a razor sharp pain lanced up his left leg. The echo of a gunshot confirmed what had happened and Raph's eyes rose to meet the gunman, standing near the entrance to the alley, a small pistol gripped between shaking hands. With a fluid movement Raph drew one of his sai with a spinning flip and prepared to throw, which was enough to frighten the third attacker off with a cry.

Returning his weapon to his belt, Raph pulled himself to where April lay unconscious. The right side of her face was bruising, and she had a black eye. There was already quite a bit of swelling, but at least the blow hadn't broken the skin. With the third attacker still out there, Raph knew they couldn't stay there longer in the event he brought reinforcements, and his attention quickly darted to a nearby manhole. He scooted along the pavement, dragging April behind him. After pushing the cover aside, took a sharp breath and he hoisted April over his shoulder and carefully lowered himself inside. Fortunately this one was along a wall and there were metal rungs for him to climb down, he wasn't too sure if he could make the jump right now. After several painfully slow steps he carefully replaced to cover and began his descent. Several careful steps down, Raph's good leg slipped on a rung, made greasy from his other bleeding leg. His face struck several metal rungs as he fell, finally pushing back away from the wall and holding April to his chest.

It didn't feel like a far drop, but Raph was left winded as his back struck the concrete below. By reflex his muscles tensed, and unintentionally he squeezed April who let out a gasp as he knocked the wind from her as well. He promptly removed his hands from her, a sudden worry that he had broken her filled him. Over several quiet seconds as he lay on his back catching his breath, with April laying sprawled on top of him, he was able to confirm her breathing was normal although she hadn't yet regained consciousness. Finally ready to move, he rolled April off of him, letting her lay on her side next to him as he sat up and inspected his wound. It was bleeding heavily, but by the looks of things the bullet hadn't gone in too far. In fact, the bullet had fallen out on its own, hence all the bleeding.

With a glance to April, Raph wondered if he'd be able to carry her all the way back to the Lair. He knew the way, but with her unconscious and with an injured leg it would be slow going. With a resigned grunt he reached for his T-Phone. Better to call the guys to pick up April. Looking down at the screen his eyes narrowed as he attempted to make a call. The screen refused to light up. " Stupid piece of junk!" Raph muttered as he tossed it to the wall beside him. It was his own fault, Donnie told him to always keep it charged in case of emergency, but he never really used it. Reaching in front of him where the phone had landed he glared down at it, seething at how smug Donnie would be if he found out about this. Returning his T-phone with a resigned sigh, Raph glanced down at April again to find her condition unchanged. A thought flickered into his head. April carries a phone. With a quick scan of her, his eyes quickly picked out the phone shaped bulge in the back pocket of her jeans. His eyes narrowed, " Of course."

With a quick motion he plucked it by the bunny charm that had hung out of the pocket. His eyes narrowed as he examined the phone, unsure as to how it worked. He managed to get past the swipe-to-unlock screen, but his fingers were too large to navigate the icons that seemed to be designed specifically for delicate girly fingers. After struggling for what felt like an eternity, Raph managed to bring up Donnie's number and strike the call button. It only rang once.

" Hey April," Came Donnie's voice from the other end, "Changed your mind and decided to let me help you with your essay?"

" Yo Shell-brain."

" Raph? What are you doing with April's phone? Where are you?"

" Forget that, April's in trouble. You know the sewer route to April's? Yeah, we'll be going that way, we need you to meet us." Raph pulled the phone away from his ear as a tide of questions erupted from his brother, " We don't have a lot of time. Just hurry it up and I'll explain after!"

It took him three attempts to hang up the phone, and when Raph was finished he shoved it in with his own stuff, not wanting to fight with April's pockets any further. Hoisting himself up to one knee, he lifted April into his arms and grunted as he rose to his feet. It took him a few staggering steps to get a good stride going. The wound stung, and it was still bleeding, but after some time he mostly tuned it out. He hadn't been on the move too long when April stirred in his arms with a groan.

" April? Hey, you okay?"

She turned her head to face him with half closed eyes, squinting to see him, " Head hurts." she mumbled, " That you Raph? What happened?"

Raph shrugged his shoulders as he continued his limping gait through the tunnel, " Doesn't matter, I took care of it." He looked down at her with a smirk, " You're lucky I showed up, or a bump on your head would be the least of your worries."

The continued in silence for a ways when Raph's foot came down on a patch of slime. His injured leg gave out and he tumbled forward, April rolling across the ground with a cry. Pulling himself up on his elbows, he crawled his way to her side, " You alright?"

April propped herself on her elbow and flashed him a half-smile. " Just startled me, that's all."

With a groan, Raph scooted himself to the wall to rest while April stayed on the ground, laying her head on her arms. " You're injured." She accused.

" Just a scratch." Raph scoffed, shrugging it off. " I got this far carrying your dead weight, I'm just tired because you're damn heavy."

April let out a laugh, which was cut short as she winced in pain. " I'm feeling pretty dizzy." She admitted as she pulled herself against the wall, propping herself up next to him.

" Eh. The other's are on their way, we don't have to wait very long. I guess it's okay to have a short rest."

Her head sank to her chest, before she fell to the side, resting on Raph's arm. " Mmhmm. Just a few minutes." She muttered.

* * *

When Raph's brothers arrived, April had fallen asleep against him. Donnie immediately went to tend to her while Leo set about wrapping his wounded leg. Scooping April into his arms, Donnie shot Raph an angry glare, " So what happened exactly?"

" A group of thugs tried to mug her," Raph growled, punching a fist into his other hand. " She's lucky I was there or she'd have been a whole lot worse."

Leo's questioning voice filled in, " What were you doing out there in the first place, Raph?"

Raph's face reddened. " We should be heading back, right?" he mumbled. He allowed Mikey and Leo to aid him up and help him walk as Donnie took off ahead with April.

When they arrived at the Lair, Donnie was there, but April was not. " I took her up above and called her an ambulance." he explained, " If she has a concussion she'll need it looked it."

Raph lowered himself carefully on the bench, pillows resting behind him as he brought his leg up for Donnie to clean and inspect. After a fresh bandage was applied, Raph limped his way into the kitchen where Spike awaited him on the counter, right where he was left. Raph scooped him up, " Sorry." he muttered, thinking of the bag of strawberries left behind in the alley after the struggle, " I had to take care of some trouble tonight. Just going to have to wait it out, buddy."

* * *

April surprised them with a visit two days later, although Donnie had gone to visit her at home during this time. She had, of course, brought with her a carton of strawberries. Instead of sharing them though, she brought them to Raph, who was on his beanbag reading a comic, Spike faithfully resting on his shoulder " For you and Spike to share!" She declared.

Raph picked up a stem with one of the super sweet berries hanging from it and offered it to Spike, who hurriedly devoured the treat, " You like that?" he fed his pet yet another before allowing himself the luxury of a bite. He paused, noticing everyone was watching him, " What're you looking at?"

They all immediately returned their attention to their own strawberries April had brought for them to share. Suddenly remembering something, Raph wiped the strawberry juice off on his leg before reaching beside him, " Yo April!"

When she turned she had a fraction of a second to catch her cell phone.

" Thanks for letting me borrow it."

* * *

**Epilogue**

* * *

Two weeks had passed since Raph's injury and he was still moving quite slow, although his wound was healing quickly. He paused for a breath, Mikey backtracking to stay beside him while Leo and Donnie went ahead to scout. " You okay bro?"

Raph shook his brother off, " Okay enough to kick your shell!" He threatened. His eyes caught movement below as a young woman walked down the streets alone, coming up to the alley below where the brothers stood.

The sound of kitten mewing reached their ears and Mikey perked, his eyes scanning the alley for the origin of the sound. Determining the sound was coming from the dumpster below, Mikey leapt from the building, no doubt to help the poor kitties.

" Mikey!"

Raph didn't know which was more satisfying, the look on Mikey's face when there were no kittens, or the screams of terror coming from the thugs as Mikey realized they had been the ones who had tricked him.

* * *

**End**

* * *

_AN: With that off my chest I can go get some sleep before work...zzzzzzzzzzz. No more fanfics in the night for me..._


End file.
